Friday, March 16, 2007

Friday reflections

Today marks the end of one of the craziest weeks of my entire life, and I'd like to reflect upon it for a moment! We ended up having an impromptu "spring break" this week because I was unable to pull things together for school after coming home from my trip and having such a full week. Next time I go (and I will definitely go!), I'll have a light week of school planned in advance! Though it was good that we had spring break this week... the kids seemed to just need me around to just hang out with them and not jump back into 'mom/teacher' mode.

We had 2 doctor appointments this week: Reece's well check and Austin's followup with the orthopedist. Reece's well check went very well, though I suspect the ped forgot that Reece is on the autism spectrum. She (the ped) came flying in through the door and bombarded Reece with tons of questions, rapid-fire. Reece held her own, though! The ped was concerned that Reece doesn't know her address or phone number, but I said, "2 years ago she wasn't even really communicating, so I'm not concerned at all! We'll get to those things over the next year!" And frankly, memorizing her phone number and address will be simple for her, so I'm truly not concerned. There are more important things in her life.

Austin's ortho appointment was also very good. His autism doc found scoliosis in his back last year at his first appointment, and we were referred to the ortho who found Austin's left leg is shorter than the right. Austin's had a big growth spurt in the last 6 months or so, so I was afraid it would be worse. Or worse yet, that the left leg had stopped growing. But the doctor found the same level of discrepancy in the two legs, and said that was reassuring. And when I asked him if Austin would stop growing now that he's starting puberty, he said that that isn't how boys work... Austin has lots of growing time left! Whew! So we don't have to go back for a year to see the ortho again! :)

Next week Reece has her follow-up with the autism doctor! Her teacher and facilitator wrote up the things Reece is still working on and the progress she has made! They did a fantastic job and it will be most helpful for her doctor and me. Speaking of Reece, she's having a rough few days... yesterday was terrible at preschool. I'm trying not to over-react, but it makes me worry that we're heading into a regression, or if the shot she got on Monday is making her regress, or if she's reacting to the crazy busy week we're having. Or maybe she's just having a bad couple of days. But when the verbal stimming comes back and the refusal to speak and behave rear their ugly heads... it really does bother me. She has been doing so well recently, and I hate to lose the progress we've made. Yesterday at the ball field she was playing and I looked up and she was walking to the street... not to the parking lot but to the main road that runs next to the ball field. Just heading straight for it. As soon as I got her attention she turned around and came back, which probably wouldn't have happened a year ago. But I had hoped we were beyond that now.

Riley turns 8 next week, and while it's not as hard as Reece turning 5, it still shocks me that she's getting so grown up already! She has changed so much in the last year, becoming less of a little girl and more of a big girl! It's hard to describe how she's changed, since you really have to know her to understand it! :)

Austin's had a rough winter, and I'm hoping that baseball season starting will help that! He made a heck of a play yesterday from the pitcher's mound, and went 2 for 2 (meaning he got up to bat 2 times and both times he got on base). As much as the ball season schedule drives me nuts, I love what it does for his self-esteem and sense of competence!

As for me, I had no idea coming back from 4 days away was going to be so difficult! I was and am so glad to be back home with my family, but I got used to setting a more relaxed pace! It's funny that can happen so quickly! Also, I had worked myself up into such a frenzy before I had left... was just so worried about what might happen... that I think I had exhausted myself that way as well. And it didn't help that the time change occured! LOL I'm not sure if I mentioned here, but I won two layout contests. This afternoon I'll post the winning layouts! :) I was so surprised I won! It really made me feel good!

So we're back to the real world next week... school will move forward! And I've got to start working on our plans for next year! I gave myself a deadline of April 15th for which approach we're taking for history and science next year, as that sort of dictates what I need to plan for. Also, I'm still debating taking Austin off the classical ed route and moving him to a more CM approach. And then I have to think about Reece and officially doing school with her next year! Oh it's alot to consider! :)